H...e...l...p...feeling Small And Pitiful.

Patty and I each bought trucks at Love's and practiced the maneuvers over and over again. Every night we spent time getting them drilled into our heads. Eventually it began to sink in. Good luck.

Thanks to mindes for that idea!

Monica we are having fun out here. Yes we face problems but I like the problem solving part of the job. Our first week our fuel gauge was bad so we ran out of fuel, a sensor went bad for the coolant so lost 4 hours of drive time, we got a load changed and had to do a recovery and Patty and I both ran 10 hours straight to finish the job, we had a misload and had to go back and get the load reloaded 16 inches closer to the front so the 38800 load was evenly spaced and we could pass the scales, we have been across a desert, snow fall in the mountains, learning to use the Jake break at 4 am one talking and one driving through the steps as we descended the steep slopes of the three sisters, from NE Pennsylvania to the mountains of Wyoming and Utah and now sitting outside LA etc. all in one week. Loved it and we will make close to 1500 our first week. Keep fighting and plugging away at it because America is a beautiful country and I have seen things I have never seen before.

Monica we are having fun out here. Yes we face problems but I like the problem solving part of the job. Our first week our fuel gauge was bad so we ran out of fuel, a sensor went bad for the coolant so lost 4 hours of drive time, we got a load changed and had to do a recovery and Patty and I both ran 10 hours straight to finish the job, we had a misload and had to go back and get the load reloaded 16 inches closer to the front so the 38800 load was evenly spaced and we could pass the scales, we have been across a desert, snow fall in the mountains, learning to use the Jake break at 4 am one talking and one driving through the steps as we descended the steep slopes of the three sisters, from NE Pennsylvania to the mountains of Wyoming and Utah and now sitting outside LA etc. all in one week. Loved it and we will make close to 1500 our first week. Keep fighting and plugging away at it because America is a beautiful country and I have seen things I have never seen before.

. Sorry that was 78800.

Will that be $1500 each or together? How are you feeling in terms of sleep and fatigue?

Bob, Ignore that first question. I realize now how uninformed it must read. I would like to know, physically, how you and Patty are holding up. I have a lot of respect for what you are doing. With summer coming soon, I am in serious debate over which job to focus on. Should I keep my tenured teaching position or go for Schneider? I am so burned out at school. But the danger of driving makes me hesitate. I am slowly getting better at the backing maneuvers and don't feel so stupid anymore. My husband wants me to go to work with him at Armellini out of Palm City. Floral. Long-haul with deliveries. The company does put its drivers up in hotels if there is a lay-over for a reload. He's comfortable there. While the potential money with Schneider is attractive, the recruiter told us that because of our south Florida zip code we could only work in their "fly-to-drive" program. Fly out of West Palm, drive for at least 21 days, fly home, have 5 days off. Schneider will pay for one piece of baggage. Hmmm...having a different truck every month, not sure we would want to live so spartan. What to do? Just taking one day at a time. Drives 10 and 11 coming up next week. Wish me luck.

Awesome to see so much support here for you guys / us.. Im planning on getting into trucking very soon as well and I come here (TT) every day and study, research and read.. And I know this might not be the proper place for this post /reply.. But I seen these replies and just wanted to say it's almost unreal how awesome this site is and the people on it are.. And thank you so much to the owners / creators /operators of this site.. Ive learned so much thanks to all of you.. Even the newbies

Bob, Ignore that first question. I realize now how uninformed it must read. I would like to know, physically, how you and Patty are holding up. I have a lot of respect for what you are doing. With summer coming soon, I am in serious debate over which job to focus on. Should I keep my tenured teaching position or go for Schneider? I am so burned out at school. But the danger of driving makes me hesitate. I am slowly getting better at the backing maneuvers and don't feel so stupid anymore. My husband wants me to go to work with him at Armellini out of Palm City. Floral. Long-haul with deliveries. The company does put its drivers up in hotels if there is a lay-over for a reload. He's comfortable there. While the potential money with Schneider is attractive, the recruiter told us that because of our south Florida zip code we could only work in their "fly-to-drive" program. Fly out of West Palm, drive for at least 21 days, fly home, have 5 days off. Schneider will pay for one piece of baggage. Hmmm...having a different truck every month, not sure we would want to live so spartan. What to do? Just taking one day at a time. Drives 10 and 11 coming up next week. Wish me luck.

Sorry so long to reply but Patty and I have been running hard and internet inside the truck through phone is spotty. 1. Your stamina and endurance builds over time. took time to work out a schedule but after a month we have settled into one. Patty starts between 4_6am and goes to 2pm with two breaks of 1 hour and one of 30 minutes. then I drive 1.5 to 2 hours. Then if we need to push it she does 1_2 hours from 4_6pm. She then puts in 350 to 500 miles depending on the trip. We then have dinner from 6_7 and then I drive 7_10 or 11. I take a 2 hour nap and then go 1_3 am . If we put in350_400. miles each we don't have to do the last sections of our shifts. If we need to do 500 miles or more each then we add on those last parts. We plan in shopping/tourist stuff or a night out with the easier loads. For example my wife hit 5 different Indian gift shops along I40 one day. it was hour drive 30 minute stop etc. one afternoon. We had a lot I of time to deliver the load. So we are trying to find ways to make it fun. If we get another one like that we want to take 24 hours off and visit the Grand Canyon. So there is some limited freedom built into many but not all loads. 2. Patty has many of the same fears and sometimes she drives so slow or cautious it drives me nuts. So I just go sleep and she gets there. I have gotten decent at backing so I handle the hard stuff. She is getting better and she no longer wakes me up on the simpler maneuvers. I still sit with her up front if she has a mountain grade to go up or down but she did the last one by herself so her skill and confidence are coming along.

Really great thread. I am having a very hard time with this. Two classes down and it's still hard as ever to do.

I FULLY understand where your coming from. When I was in school I had the same types of feelings from time to time.

Something eventually just clicked to where I passed my test.

Block that other student outta your mind. It always seems that there's always 1 student. ..... I had one in my class as well. His dad was the instructor in the other class. He thought he knew it all, and would interrupt. ... finally the 3rd student (3 of us in the class) and I both went off on him and put him in his place.

Once you get through this (and you will) you'll continue your training in the real world environment. No one is born knowing this stuff. .. give yourself a break and don't be so hard on yourself. And what ever you do. ... DON'T COMPARE YOURSELF AND YOUR PROGRESS TOOK ANYONE ELSE.

Good luck to you. Sometimes the big breakthroughs come after a day or weekend off.

ClassA, Thank you for the kind and spot-on advice. I HAVE been afraid of irritating the instructor by getting out of the cab and looking at the positioning of the combination at each step of the backing maneuvers. I have wished that I was a bird so I could fly over and get an aerial view. And yes, he has instructed me a hundred times to stop "overthinking" this. Yet, I am to concentrate. My brain is a hot, chemical soup and yes, it must be affecting my ability to perceive what I am looking at. I must also be directionally challenged. A tattoo of L and R on the back of my hands, maybe? At least I'm smiling again. You rock.

If the instructor gets mad for you looking at your setup to hell with him, your trying to be as safe as posible and thats what matters!!!